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RoboCop (UK - BD RB)

Chris Gould dips his toes in the Blu-ray waters with Fox's release of RoboCop

Feature

Paul Verhoeven’s satirical, ultra-violent (by 1987 standards) movie about a cop gunned down in the line of duty and subsequently resurrected as a crime-fighting cyborg is one of my all-time favourites. I’ve previously reviewed both the Criterion and MGM releases of the film, so I’ll dispense with the lengthy recap and instead offer a brief synopsis for the uninitiated.

RoboCop tells the story of Alex Murphy, an honest cop transferred from his cushy post in Metro South to the horrors of the Metro West district. No sooner have Murphy and his new partner Lewis geared up, they are thrust into a high-speed shootout with an armed gang led by Old Detroit’s unofficial crime boss, Clarence Boddicker. After tracking the gang to an abandoned steel mill, Murphy is caught by surprise and sadistically tortured before being shot in the head and left for dead.

Seeking a subject for their new crime-prevention program, corrupt mega-corporation OCP resurrects Murphy as a cyborg known as RoboCop and sets him about the task of cleaning up the city. However, it's not long before RoboCop begins to remember his past life and starts out to track down and bring to justice those responsible for his death, while at the same time trying to come to terms with the loss of his humanity.

I was pleasantly surprised to find the director’s cut of the film on the disc, which features approximately a minute’s worth of footage that was cut from the theatrical version to obtain an ‘R’ rating. In particular, watch out for ED 209's first appearance in the OCP boardroom, which is an excellent example of the black humour found throughout the film, and Murphy’s very graphic death at the hands of Boddicker’s gang.

Video

This Blu-ray edition of RoboCop is presented as a 1080p/24 MPEG-2 encoded transfer at its theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Before I go on I have to state that I’m basing the MPEG-2 information on the US release of the film, which looks to be identical to this one. Unfortunately the check discs I receive for review rarely include press releases with detailed specs, and I don’t have a BD drive in my PC to allow me to check them out for myself.

I can be more confident when discussing the aspect ratio, which is sure to be a bone of contention. Back in 1999, Criterion released Paul Verhoeven’s ‘Director’s Cut’ of the film at his preferred ratio of 1.66:1. That particular transfer opened the image up somewhat, but its non-anamorphic nature resulted in a fairly weak presentation. However, many people still prefer it to the anamorphic transfers that followed, which were either 1.78:1 or 1.85:1 and had slightly different colour timing. Personally I’m of the opinion that, while Verhoeven prefers the 1.66:1 ratio, the film was theatrically exhibited at 1.85:1 and that should be considered the OAR as it is how most people would have originally seen it.

Obviously RoboCop was a low-budget movie to begin with, but the image presented here belies those humble origins. The increased resolution allowed me to pick out previously unseen detail (such as the lettering on RoboCop’s helmet) and added depth and realism to the image. The print is also much cleaner and free from grain than I remember (and a huge improvement over the Criterion edition). Compression artefacts aren’t a problem and colour rendition is fairly good throughout; certainly better than the older MGM standard definition release. However, it’s not all good news.

Although cleaner than other versions, the odd speckle is still visible on the print and detail levels sometimes fluctuate mid-scene. This is particularly apparent during effects shots, which I believe were accomplished with the use of rear-projection. Low-light scenes often contain more grain than they should, blacks can look a little muddy and brightness and contrast have a nasty habit of fluctuating. While it’s true that colours are generally acceptable, skin tones aren’t quite as realistic as I’d like (think reddish-pink). While this was a problem that affected the older release, I was expecting it to be rectified for the film’s official high-def début. Some slight edge enhancement is also present, but I didn’t really notice it sitting around ten feet away from my 42” screen.

Being that this is my first Blu-ray review it would be very easy to get carried away with the quality of the transfer. However, if I’m to be fair I have to compare this to other Blu-ray titles, not to five-year-old standard definition releases. While I don’t want to be overly critical of the transfer, simply because many of the ‘faults’ are down to the source material, I just can’t justify top honours for this one.

Audio

RoboCop arrives on Blu-ray with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 in English and DTS 5.1 in both Italian and Spanish. Unfortunately it would seem that Fox’s choice of lossless codec means that only a small number of people can currently enjoy the lossless audio, as very few players or amplifiers can handle DTS-HD MA (unlike PCM or Dolby TrueHD). This meant that I had to listen to the 1.5Mbps DTS Core 5.1 track embedded in the DTS-HD stream.

This year marks the twentieth anniversary of RoboCop, and it definitely shows. While the track easily sounds as good as any previous offering, it doesn’t actually sound much better. It is an improvement over the Criterion Dolby Surround mix, which offered limited use of the surround channels, and the excessive bass that marred the MGM release has been dialled back to more reasonable levels. However, this has resulted in feeble sounding gunshots, explosions and other such effects. ED-209’s footsteps don’t so much shake the room as sound like the gentle pad of a kitten’s paws, and his voice lacks the booming presence it demands. This fidelity is lacking at both ends of the audio spectrum, lending dialogue a forced, unnatural quality (and some poor ADR doesn’t help).

However, it’s not all bad news. The new mix is actually a lot livelier than previous attempts, with some genuinely inventive use of the discrete surround channels. Some of the more memorable moments include ED-209 walking on-screen from the front right of the soundstage, various gunshots coming from the left and right surround channels and a hubcap flying directly over the viewer’s head during a car chase! All of this makes for a satisfyingly enveloping aural experience, not least when Basil Poledouris’ wonderful score fills the room. When it comes to awarding marks I’m going to apply the same formula to the audio elements of this disc as I did to the visual ones. Basically this track isn’t a patch on most modern soundtracks, but it’s not actually a bad remix of a low-budget film that’s pushing twenty.

Extras

Well, this isn’t going to take long. The only bonus material included on the disc comes in the form of trailers for RoboCop and Planet of the Apes. Both are presented in 1080p, but that’s hardly compensation for such a shoddy effort. How do studios expect to push their brand-spanking new high definition formats by releasing bare-bones discs? What’s more infuriating is that that various standard definition releases of the film have featured multiple commentary tracks and plenty of featurettes. It’s just not good enough.

Another thing that I found slightly odd is that the disc does not feature a main menu. Now I know that Blu-ray features interactive ‘in-film’ menus, but the lack of a main menu just makes this release feel cheap. It’s like they couldn’t be bothered (which I guess they couldn’t). Most of the other titles in my collection have menus, but the majority of those are Sony, Tartan and Optimum efforts. Perhaps it’s just Fox that can’t be bothered…

Overall

Okay, so it’s lacking when it comes to bonus material, but this is still the best that RoboCop has looked and sounded outside of a cinema. It’s not exactly the kind of stunning presentation I was expecting from Blu-ray, but that has more to do with the source material than the home video format. While I’d never use the disc as demo material (reference quality this ain’t), it made for a gentle and fairly pleasant introduction to the wonders of high definition and one that I’d recommend to fans of the film.

Of course, if we’ve learned anything from DVD it is that studios love to squeeze every last penny from consumers by releasing multiple incarnations of our favourite films, so those of you who love your extras might want to hold off until a more comprehensive package is available. I briefly considered making some kind of ‘your move creep’ joke to round things off, but in the end I thought better of it. Oh, bugger...

* Note: The above images are taken from the Blu-ray release and resized for the page. Full-resolution captures are available by clicking individual images, but due to .jpg compression they are not necessarily representative of the quality of the transfer.

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m@tt wrote: As scary as ED209 was he shared a fatal flaw with the darleks, he couldn't get down the f**king stairs either.

Daleks could go up and down stairs. They just never showed it until Rememberance Of The Daleks in '89. Before that, they were shown to have the ability to float/fly in Revelation and go completely up/down stairs in Dalek.

Chris Gould wrote: It's not a question of practicality, it's one of aesthetics.

I agree the better menus look generally the more polished the whole package feels, but regards the lack or otherwise of a main menu on HD titles I think it's more to do with those involved not knowing whether it's actually necessary. It's interesting you say you feel it suggests they have cut corners.

As someone who spends 50% of their time creating menus for DVDs and now HD titles, I wish all studios were prepared to pay for the standard of the Star Wars and Spiderman discs! Unfortunately (and increasingly in my experience) in most cases they're not, and it often depends on how passionate individual designers are about a certain title as to whether the interface does it justice.

Quote: I'm not buying a new PC just to do screen caps. The system scales all of the images to 565 pixels wide anyway, so comparisons between SD and HD are rendered pointless.

ghekkomanic wrote: Once you've accessed the film there's actually no need to access the main menu at all after that (all options being available from the pop-up menus). The only benefit from having one seems to be if you want to put your disc in then go and do something else without the film playing automatically.

It's more a matter of practicality than cost for distributors too - the main menu would merely be a footage loop or otherwise from the film with the same interactive menus on - no more expense for them really.

It still looks cheap. DVDs never needed menus, but the likes of Van Ling and David Prior produced some great looking stuff. The Star Wars menus are fantastic and just make the whole package feel complete. The Spider-Man menus on BD are nice as well, as are the Oldboy menus. It's not a question of practicality, it's one of aesthetics.

Quote: Regarding screen grabs from HD titles on your reviews - is this a case of some reviewers not having the software to capture 1920x1080?

It seems an oversite not to be able to compare the video to SD releases on some reviews, particularly this one. Sorry if this has been brought up before.

It's not an oversight, it's just expensive. HD DVD and BD drives for PCs aren't cheap, and the minimum specs for high-def content on PCs are fairly high. I'm not buying a new PC just to do screen caps. The system scales all of the images to 565 pixels wide anyway, so comparisons between SD and HD are rendered pointless.

Chris Gould wrote: If you hit the menu button nothing happens, but you can bring up the interactive menus (the ones that are overlayed onto the film) at any time. Just makes the release feel cheap. Once you've accessed the film there's actually no need to access the main menu at all after that (all options being available from the pop-up menus). The only benefit from having one seems to be if you want to put your disc in then go and do something else without the film playing automatically.

It's more a matter of practicality than cost for distributors too - the main menu would merely be a footage loop or otherwise from the film with the same interactive menus on - no more expense for them really.

Regarding screen grabs from HD titles on your reviews - is this a case of some reviewers not having the software to capture 1920x1080?

It seems an oversite not to be able to compare the video to SD releases on some reviews, particularly this one. Sorry if this has been brought up before.

No no HD Players, yet! I would if Samsung got off their ass and released it. I should by January though. It's been delayed from the end of October until the end of November. January is looking likely now.

So you don't have any players then? When I say no main menu mean just that. Unlike Spider-Man or Pirates of the Caribbean, Oldboy or Pan's Labyrinth (and I could go on), the film commences playback immediately without going to a menu. If you hit the menu button nothing happens, but you can bring up the interactive menus (the ones that are overlayed onto the film) at any time. Just makes the release feel cheap. It seems to affect Fox titles, because FF: RotSS and the rest of the titles they sent me are the same.

yeah the whole barebones thing is one of the main reasons i havent gotten into the HD formats yet....there's just no excuse for them to be barebones. these discs apparently have MUCH more room so you're saying they cant fit anything else? its just odd...while it made sense that early DVDs were that way, we're now in the age where DVDs rule and are always have some extras....so why would the "next gen" go back to square one?

i know the point of HD is to show off the better sound and image but yeah. as chris said up there, the HD titles are bare but the regular DVDs are not. that really dont make any sense.

i'm already just waiting for a winner in this so called war to even go to HD but all these barebone releases sure dont help the cause. this probably means that one day they'll start double dipping the HD discs to add the extras that should been there to begin with.

i tell ya....video discs are fancy and cool but they sure be evil sometimes..lol